Work folding and guiding device for sewing machines



1935- J. E. ACKERMAN ET AL 1,937,334

WORK FOLDING AND GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 4, 1955 2 SheetsSheet l clam es {t cker/n an fiedere'c J1 Card Jan. 8, 1935- J. E.VACKERMAN El AL 1,987,384

WORK FOLDING AND GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed Aug. 4, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 M 1 i a? James EAckerman Frederic J! Card Patented Jan. 8, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WORK FOLDING AND GUIDING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES Application August 4, 1933, Serial No. 683,564

20 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in work folding and guiding devices for sewing machines and has for its primary object to provide means for producing in a body material a hem of narrow and uniform width, and for directing said hem to the sewing machine needle regardless of cross-seams in the body material. A further object of the invention is to provide means for accurately guiding a strip of lace or other material to the needle in conjunction with the margin of a body material.

The invention consists in the work folding and guiding devices and in the relative arrangement of said devices as hereinafter described and pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of the improved attachment and of a sewing machine cloth-plate to which it is applied, the presser-bar and part of the bracket-arm standard being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the attachment, with the cloth-plate in section. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the presser-foot and attached hemmer. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the hemmer substantially on the line 4-4, of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 represents a perspective view of the throat-plate. Fig. 6 represents a perspective view of the presser-foot and attached hemmer. Fig. '7 represents a diagrammatic view of the stitched product.

Referring to the drawings, the present improvement has been applied to a sewing machine having the usual horizontal work-supporting cloth-plate 1 from which rises the standard 2 of the usual bracket-arm provided with suitable ac- 35 tuating mechanism for a vertically reciprocatory thread-carrying needle 3, in which bracket-arm a spring depressed presser-bar 4 is also journaled for vertical movement.

Suitably secured upon the cloth-plate is a 40 throat-plate 5 having a needle-aperture 6 and feed-slots '7 for the usual feed-dog 8, said throatplate being also provided in a side edge thereof with a horizontal guide slot 9 open at its front end adjacent the front end of the throat-plate and extending to directly in front of the needleaperture 6, where the throat-plate is partly cut away so that a strip S of lace or other material guided by said slot 9 may emerge therefrom and be delivered upon the work-supporting face of the throat-plate at the needle-aperture 6 therein.

The lace strip S is directed into the throatplate slot or guideway 9, with one edge of said strip in engagement with the edge-guiding side wall 11 of the slot, by a horizontally disposed guide-tongue 12 spaced from the cloth-plate 1 and having a strip-inverting edge 13 inclined to the line of seam formation. The strip inverting edge 13 of said tongue terminates at one end in a reversely extending projection 14 forming an edge-guide 15 in front of and in alinement with the side wall 11 of the throat-plate slot 9. The shank of the guide-tongue 12 is attached by screws 16 upon a base-plate 17 suitably secured upon the cloth-plate by a screw 18 for adjustment crosswise of the line of scam formation, said base-plate being steadied by ears 19 bent downwardly therefrom and engaging the front edge of said cloth-plate.

Secured, upon a raised portion or lug 20 of the base-plate 17, for angular adjustment about a pivot-pin 21, is a horizontally disposed auxiliary guide-tongue 22 having a strip-inverting edge 23 which may be disposed parallel to the strip-inverting edge 13 of the guide-tongue 12 or may be adjusted slightly out of parallelism therewith into a position favoring automatic delivery of an edge of the strip S into the crotch formed by said strip-inverting edge 13 and the edge-guide 15. The guide-tongue 22 may be conveniently secured in adjusted position upon the base-plate by a thumb-screw 24 passing throughan arcuate slot 25 formed in said guide-tongue, which latter is provided at its free end with an upstanding pin 26 confining the strip against movement beyond said free end of the tongue 22. Disposed between the strip-inverting edges 13 and 23 of said guide-tongues are a plurality of substantially parallel strip-tensioning rods 27 projecting horizontally from an angle-bracket 28 secured by screws 29 upon the base-plate 17.

As illustrated by dot-dash lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings, the strip S of lace is passed between the cloth-plate 1 and the auxiliary guidetongue 22, about the strip-inverting edge 23 of the latter and alternately above and below the tensioning rods 27. After passing through the tensioning rods 27, the strip is inverted about the edge 13 of the guide-tongue 12, with an edge of the strip in engagement with the edge-guide 15, whereby said edge of the strip is accurately and automatically guided into engagement with the edge-guiding wall 11 of the throat-plate slot 9.

It is preferred to direct the lace strip auto.- matically to the needle by guiding means of the character described, because of the accuracy required in so directing the strip that the stitches are formed very close to the edge of the strip, 1. e., through the beaded edge of the lace, and

also because the body material to which the lace is to be attached overlies the lace in front of the needle, thus rendering it practically impossible to accurately guide the lace manually.

A body material M, to the under side of which the lace strip S is to be attached, is directed to the needle by hemfolding and shaping means designed to form an upturned hem of very narrow Width in the body material. The completion of the hem in its narrow form as presented to the needle is accomplished in successive steps in the operation of directing the body material to the needle, the margin of said body material being first hemfolded by a primarymember from which the hem passes to a supplementary hemshaping means acting to tighten or narrow the hem delivered thereto, and arranged to permit the passage therethrough of cross seams in the body material.

The primary hem-folding member may be of any suitable construction to form a comparatively narrow and preferably complete hem in the body material, it being preferred to employ a. scroll-type hemmer having the usual apron 31 merging into an upturned curved wall 32 continuing into a roof portion 33 overhanging the apron to thereby turn back a body-material margin and form the outer fold of the hem. The roof portion 33 is bent downwardly and inwardly to terminate in a lip 34 to thereby inturn the edge of the folded back margin and form the innerfold of the hem, said lip 34 being disposed between the roof portion 33 and the apron 31 to provide a hem-forming channel. Rising vertically from the upturned wall 32 of said primary hemmer is its supporting shank 35 adjustably secured by screws 36 to the depending free end 37 of a carrier-arm 38 bent laterally between its ends and extending forwardly from a bracket 39 upon the shank 40 of apresser-foot 41. The carrier-arm 38 is pivotally secured by a bolt 42 and friction washer 43 to said presser-foot bracket 39, the rearward edge of said carrier-arm 38 being shaped to provide stop-shoulders 44 and 45 alternately engageable with a stop-screw 46 adjustably threaded into an ear 47 bent laterally from the bracket 39. It wil be understood that the described supporting means for the primary hemmer not only provides for vertical adjustment of the hemmer upon its carrier-arm, but also permits of adjustment of the hemmer in a direction parallel to the line of seam formation by manipulation of the stop-screw 46. It will also be understood that the hemmer, being carried by the presser-foot, moves upwardly and downwardly therewith, and that the hemmer may be swung upwardly from its operative position, shown in full lines in Fig. 2, into and out of the way position, as illustrated in dotted lines.

The presser-foot 41 has a sole-piece 48 provided with a needle-aperture 49, in front of which needle-aperture the sole-piece 48 is partly cut away to form a forwardly extending toe 50 disposed directly adjacent toithe outer face of the delivery end 51 'of the primary or hemfolding member in the operative position of the latter, in which, as will be observed more particularly from Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings, the scroll or hemforming' channel of the primary hemmer is disposed entirely at one side of the line AB of seam formation. Inasmuch, as the presser-foot toe 50 is disposed at the outer side of the primary hemmer, and as the lace strip emerges from its throat-plate guideway directly in front of the needle-aperture 6. therein, it will be unthe front face thereof. spring wire 63 passes through a notch 64 in the 7 derstood that in the present case said presserfoot toe 50 does not bear downwardly upon either the body material or the lace strip.

The primary function of the presser-foot toe 50 is to control the movement to the needle of the body material hem emerging from the primary hemmer. To this end, the side edge of the toe 50 adjacent to the hemmer is formed to provide successively reversely inclined guiding walls 52, 53, for the outer fold of the hem i. e., the side edge portion 52 is inclined in a direction away from the line of seam formation rearwardly from the delivery end of the primary hemmer and partly across the path of the hem delivered by the latter, while the guide wall 53 is inclined in the opposite direction to extend across the line of seam formation. The guide-wall 53 merges into one side wall of a hem-guiding groove 54 cut into the under side of the presser-foot sole-piece 48 in the line of seam-formation, said groove terminating at its rearward end slightly rearward of the presser-foot needle-aperture 49, whereby the needle passes through the hem while the latter is retained in its narrowed form'by the groove. To facilitate passage of the body-material under the sole-piece 48, the under side thereof adjacent to the toe 56 is beveled upwardly toward its forward end, with the exception of a relatively narrow portion 55 retained to form a side wall of the groove 54, it being understood that the upper Wall of the groove 54 is correspondingly beveled.

Opposed to the inclined guide-wall 53 of the presser-foot toe 50 to form therewith a supplementary hem-narrowing or -shaping channel is a vertically concave Wall 56 formed in a side face of a hem-shaping head 57 disposed in front of the sole-piece 43 and having a laterally extending lip 58 overlying the presser-fcot toe 50. The under face of said lip 58 merges into the concave wall 56, which latter extends lengthwise in a direction inclined to the line of seam formation, whereby said wall 56 and the wall 53 converge slightly in a direction toward the needle-path. The head 57 has an angular shank 59, disposed upon the upper face of the sole-piece 48, the head carrying arm 59 of said shank extending substantially parallel to the line of seam formation. The other arm 60 of said shank is disposed transversely of the line of seam formation and at its free end carries astop-finger 61 extending laterally from said shank-arm 60 to engage a side edge of the presser-foot. A pivot-screw 62 passes through an aperture at the bend between the arms 59, 60, said screw being threaded into the presser-foot sole-piece so that the head of the screw is spaced slightly from the upper face of the shank. This arrangement provides not only for a swinging movement of the head 5'7 about the pivot-screw 62, but also for vertical movement of said head. and accordingly the head 57 is free to float responsively to different thicknesses in the body material.

Spring means is employed to yieldingly hold the head 5''! in the position shown in the drawings and determined, horizontally, by engagement of the stop-finger 61 with the presser-foot and, vertically, by engagement of the shank-arm 59 with the upper face of the sole-piece 48. The spring means referred to comprises a resilient wire 63 of p which one end is bent downwardly to enter an aperture in the head 57, and its other end enters an aperture in the presser-foot shank 40 from Intermediate its ends, the

presser-foot heel, the wire being retained in said notch by bending said wire, adjacent to its rearward end, to pass through a notch 65, formed in the presser-foot shank and opposed to the notch 64. Preferably a coil 66 is formed in the wire 63 between said notches 64 and 65.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that a complete hem M of narrow width is formed in the body-material M by the primary hem-folding member of which the hem-forming channel presents suflicient clearance to permit the passage therethrough of cross-seams. The hem thus formed is however necessarily wider than desired in the completed product, because of the provision for the passage of cross-seams. The hem M emerges from said primary hemmer entirely at one side of the line A, B of seam formation, i. e., the hem M is delivered by the primary hemmer at the body-material side of the line of seam formation. As it emerges from the primary hemmer, the hem M is initially deflected still farther away from the line of scam formation by the inclined-guiding edge 52 of the presser-foot toe and into the receiving end of the supplementary hem-shaping or -narrowing device of which the guiding walls, as described, are arranged to relatively yield to undue thicknesses of material, such as cross-seams. The hem-guiding channel formed by the walls 52, 56 of said supplementary device is inclined to the channel of the hemfolding member in a direction from one side of the line of seam formation, which condition, coupled with the convergence of said walls toward the delivery end thereof has the eifect of narrowing the hem while maintaining its form. The narrowed hem is directed in this manner into the groove 54 in the under face of the presserfoot sole-piece 48 and is confined thereby in its narrowed form until secured by stitches which in the present case, also serve tosecure to the under side of the hem a beaded edge of a lace strip guided to the needle as hereinbefore described.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what we claim herein is:

1. In a sewing machine, stitch forming mechanism including a reciprocatcry needle, workfeeding mechanism, a presser-foot opposed to said feeding mechanism provided with a guiding wall inclined to and extending across the line of seam formation, a hem-shaping head provided with a guiding wall opposed to said presser-foot guiding wall to provide a hem-shaping channel between said walls, means for supporting said head for yielding movements relatively to said presserfoot guiding wall, and a hem-folder disposed in front of said channel.

2. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a presser-foot opposed to said feeding mechanism provided with a guiding wall inclined to and extending across the line of scam formation, a hem-shaping head provided with a guiding wall opposed to said presser-foot guiding wall to provide a hem-shaping channel between said walls, means for supporting said head for yielding movements relatively to said presser-foot guiding wall, a hem-folder disposed in front of said channel to deliver a formed hem at one side of the line of seam formation, and guiding means for directing said hem from said hem-folder into said hemshaping channel.

3. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mech anism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a presser-foot opposed to said work-feeding mechanism, a hem-folder carried by said presser foot having its delivery end offset laterally of the line of seam formation, and hem-shaping means carried by said presser-foot and disposed between the delivery end of said hem-folder and'the path of reciprocation of said needle, said shaping means comprising relatively yielding walls defining therebetween a hemguiding channel inclined to and terminating in the line of scam formation, and guiding means for directing the hem from said hem-folder in a direction away from the line of seam formation into the guiding channel of said shaping means.-

4. In a, sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a presser-foot opposed to said work-feeding mechanism having a solepiece provided with a needle aperture, said solepiece having a forwardly extending toe of which a side edge provides guiding walls successively reversely inclined with respect to the line of seam formation, a hem-folder having its delivery end disposed closely adjacent to the forward one of said guiding walls, a hem-shaping head provided with a concave wall opposed to the other of said guiding walls and together therewith providing a hem-guiding channel terminating in the line of seam formation, a hem-shaping head carrier mounted upon said presser-foot for floating movements of said head, and spring means yieldingly controlling the movements of said hemshaping head.

5. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a presser-foot opposed to said work-feeding mechanism, hem-shaping means carried by said presser-foot providing a hem-guiding channel inclined to and terminating in the line of seam formation, a hem-folder having its delivery end disposed in front of said shaping means, and a hem-folder carrier pivotally mounted upon said presser-foot for swingout movement of said hem-folder relatively to said shaping means.

6. A work-guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a folder having means for folding a margin of a body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said body material margin to thereby form a hem-fold, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means having opposed hem-fold narrowing walls providing therebetween a work-guiding channel offset from the delivery end of said folder and positioned to re ceive the hem-fold therefrom.

7. A work-guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a folder having a work-guiding chan nel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to fold a margin of a body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said bodymaterial margin to thereby form a hem-fold, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means having a hemfold guiding channel inclined to the work-guiding channel of said folder and positioned to receive the hem-fold from the delivery end of said folder.

8; A work-guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a folder having means for folding a margin of a body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said body material margin to thereby form a hem-fold, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means having relatively yielding walls defining therebetween a hemfold guiding channel inclined to and positioned to receive the hem-fold from the delivery end-of said folder. 7

9. A work-guiding. device for sewing machines comprising, a primary folding scroll having a work-guiding channel defined by guiding sur faces arranged to fold a margin of a body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said margin to thereby form a hem-fold, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means positioned to receive the hem-fold from said folding scroll and comprising spaced walls providing therebetween a hem-fold guiding-channel offset laterally from the folding-scroll channel, one of said walls being supported for floating movements in transverse directions.

10. A work-guiding device for sewing machines, comprising a folder having a work-guiding channel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to fold a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said margin to thereby form a hem-fold, supplementary hem-fold shaping means providing a hem-fold guiding channel inclined to the channel of said folder and positioned to receive the hem-fold from said folder, and hem-fold guiding means disposed between said folder and said shaping means in position to engage the outer edge of the hem delivered by said folder and to deflect said hemfold laterally into the channel of said shaping means.

11. A work-guiding device for sewing machines, comprising, a primary folding scroll having a work-guiding channel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to fold a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said margin to thereby form a hem-fold, supplementary hem-fold shaping means positioned to receive the hem-fold from said scroll and comprising spaced walls providing therebetween a hem-fold guiding channel offset laterally from the folding-scroll channel, one of said walls being supported for floating movements in transverse directions, and hem-fold defleeting means disposed between said primary folding scroll and said shaping means.

12. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a folder having means for folding a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said margin to thereby form ahem-fold, said folder being disposed in front of said needle in position to deliver a completely formed hem-fold at one side of the line of seam formation, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means disposed between said folder and the needle and having guiding surfaces for directing the hem-fold delivered by said folder into the line of scam formation.

13. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, Workfeeding mechanism, a folding scroll having means for folding a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said body material margin to thereby form a hem-fold, said scroll being disposed in front of said needle in position to deliver a completely formed hem-fold at one side of the line of scam formation, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means disposed between said scroll and the needle, said shaping means comprising relatively yielding guiding walls providing therebetween a hem-fold guiding channel extending into the line of seam formation.

14. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a folder having a workguiding channel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to fold a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said body material margin to thereby form a hem-fold, and supplementary hem-fold shaping means disposed between said folder and the needle, said shaping means having spaced walls providing a hem-fold guiding channel inclined to the channel in said folder in a direction from one side of and terminating in the line of seam formation.

15. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a folder having a workguiding channel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to fold a margin of body material back upon itself and for inturning the edge of said body material margin to thereby form a hem-fold, supplementary hem-fold shaping means having relatively yielding walls defining a hem-fold guiding channel offset laterally and positioned to receive the hem-fold from said folder, and guiding means for directing the formed and shaped hemfold into the path of said needle.

16. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a reciprocatory needle, workfeeding mechanism, a folder having a workguiding channel defined by guiding surfaces arranged to turn up and fold backwardly upon itself the margin of a body material and to inturn the edge of said margin to thereby form a hemfold, hem-fold shaping means disposed between the delivery end of said folder and the needle, said shaping means having spaced walls providing a hem-fold guiding-channel inclined to the channel of said folder from one side of and terminating in the line of seam formation, and guiding means for directing an edge of a strip of material into the path of reciprocation of said needle under the formed and shaped hem-fold.

17. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a vertically reciprocatory needle, work-feeding mechanism, a hem-folder disposed in front of said needle having means for folding a margin of body-material back upon itself to form the outer fold of a hem, and for inturning the edge of the folded back margin to thereby form the inner fold of the hem, and a hem shaping member having a wall disposed in front of said needle to engage the inner fold of a hem delivered by said hem-folder, said wall being lengthwise inclined to the line of seam formation in a direction to thereby crowd said inner fold toward the outer fold of said hem.

18. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a vertically reciprocatory needle, work-feeding mechanism, a hem-folder disposed in front of said needle having means for folding a margin of body-material back upon itself'to form the outer fold of a hem, and for inturning the edge of the folded back margin to thereby form the inner fold of the hem, and a hem shaping member having a vertically concave wall disposed in front of said needle to engage the inner fold of a hem delivered by said hem-folder, said wall extending lengthwise in a direction inclined to the line of seam formation to thereby crowd said inner fold toward the outer fold of said hem.

19. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a vertically reciprocatory needle,

work-feeding mechanism, a hem-folder disposed F in front of said needle having means for folding a margin of body-material back upon itself to form the outer fold of a hem, and for inturning the edge of the folded back margin to thereby form the inner fold of the hem, a hem shaping member having a vertically concave wall disposed in front of said needle to engage the inner fold of a hem delivered by said hem-folder, said wall extending lengthwise in a direction inclined to the line of seam formation to thereby crowd said inner fold toward the outer fold of said hem, and guiding means opposed to said hem shaping member for directing the outer fold edge of the hem between the delivery end of said hem-folder and said needle.

20. In a sewing machine, stitch-forming mechanism including a vertically reciprocatory needle, work-feeding mechanism, a hem-folder disposed in front of said needle having means for folding a margin of body-material back upon itself to form the outer fold of a hem, and for inturning the edge of the folded back margin to thereby form the inner fold of the hem, and a hem shaping member having a wall disposed in front of said needle to engage the inner fold of a hem delivered by said hem-folder, said wall being lengthwise inclined to the line of seam formation in a direction to thereby crowd said inner fold toward the outer fold of said hem, and supporting means for the hem shaping member providing for vertical yielding movements of said member.

JAMES E. ACKERMAN.

FREDERIC M. CARD. 

